She'll be coming round the mountain when she comes

[Jurriaan Bendien <bendien@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

It is difficult to quantify, but from spending much time there, my estimate
would be that the typical Swiss spends perhaps 50 to 75 percent more time
per week than a comparable Western European adult on civic, church, and
other volunteer activities, and say 25 to 35 percent more than a typical
American.
The typical Swiss town is run by unpaid council members. The local schools
are operated, for the most part, directly by parents, rather than by
officials who report only indirectly and periodically to the parents.
Parents, for example, hire the teachers in most cantons. The cantonal
parliaments, and even the federal parliament, are populated mainly by people
who keep their regular job. About one third of the members of the Supreme
Court are nonlawyers, and the body does not really review cases for
constitutionality because, as any number of Swiss put it to me, "that is
already done by the people."

This is not to say the spirit of "let's roll" is dead in America or other
parts of the West, especially over the last several months. It does seem to
me, however, to be at a high level among the Swiss, and to be a very steady
fact of life.

Now, Swiss voluntarism or citizenship is not the product merely of direct
democracy. It arises from many factors. One is the country's policy of near
universal male military service, which raises civic time directly and
inculcates an ethic of service indirectly. As well, Swiss federalism leaves
many tasks, from important environmental policy questions to decisions about
immigration and citizenship, and real management of the local schools, up to
locals. And not just local "officials," but to the people. Federalism thus
plays a role as well.

But there is no escaping the pervasive and subtle message of a political
culture in which many of the major questions of state, and nearly all
controversial ones, are referred directly to citizens ?most of them,
repeatedly. The message to the voter is, "you are competent to take care of
your own affairs. In fact, it's your responsibility." In a very real way,
Switzerland is a nation with some million members of the legislature. This
accounts, in part, for a second observation about the Swiss.

2. PEOPLE'S COMPETENCE
Development economists often wonder whether a given people are "ready" for
democracy. The assumption is that until they have attained a certain level
of formal education, wealth, or other achievements, they are not quite fit
for self-government.

The Swiss, by many statistical measures, are extremely "ready." Their rate
of newspaper readership is rivaled only by that, for some reason, of the
Norwegians, and it must be remembered that a significant number of Swiss
read in two or more languages. Swiss performance on standardized math and
reading tests is high, even though the country has a significant plurality,
for such a wealthy country, of persons who do not attend graduate school or
even the university. Their facility with language is legend, and while a
necessity in the case of French and German, now extends even to English.

I found, in very general terms, that many Swiss were not as well informed
about their leading politicians as one might see in the United States or
most of Europe. (It is possible to read the front page of a Swiss newspaper
several days in a row and not see the president's name.) They were, however,
more knowledgeable in general about policy issues, and seem to feel they
have more of a stake in settling them, than is common in more indirect
democracies. The same holds true even of world affairs, though in part this
reflects the simple fact that in Switzerland, if something happens 100 miles
away, it is very likely "overseas news."

Does this high level of sophistication make the Swiss fit for direct
democracy, or has their direct democracy helped produce a highly capable and
skilled electorate? There is clearly some causality moving in both
directions. If we consider Switzerland's position in the 19th Century,
however, compared to today, there is some evidence that faith in the
people's capacity to govern helped raise that capacity itself.

Full article: http://www.adti.net/html_files/swiss/fossedal_bigmed_rx_.html